these hands had to let it go free ( this love came back to me )
by rosemargaery
Summary: In the end, the first council doesn't last. Tyrion Lannister is the third to go and no one is really surprised. ( or after a few years of being beside King Bran, Tyrion is sent in official business to the North and it changes everything) { second part of the 'long live' series }
1. Chapter 1

In the end, the first council doesn't last.

Bronn is the first one to go. He manages to do fairly good for the first couple of years, providing for food and money, but as soon as he starts to fall into his all habits, Bran asks Tyrion to find a replacement. The Hand of the King already have a list of ten people waiting, because you didn't have to have magic in your veins to see that one coming.

Sir Davos is a harder loss. All of his remaining family had being taken by Lord Baratheon to the castle of Stormlands. For what Tyrion knew in conversation, Davos's wife had basically adopted the lad and while he always smiled and laugh when he told this kind of stories, Tyrion could see the longing and gods, he understood it well. A year after Bronn's departure, Brann let him free to go for his family.

Tyrion is the third to go and that was something most people were expecting.

Is innocent, at first. The Queen in the North, Sansa Stark, starts to send letters as soon as she is crowned and is Tyrion who answers them. They know each other, trust each other to be honest, so it's easy to talk with her about what is going on in King's Landing. If he imagines her writing her with that little smile of hers, the one that only lifts corner of her mouth, who can blame him?

With time, the letters have other details too. Little harmful gossip, like how Jon Snow has decided to go beyond the wall, again, and how Arya Stark is currently giving Sir Davos a perpetual headache after appearing in the Stormlands and deciding that she rules the place now. Their young lord, apparently, has no interest in correcting. They are little pieces of information about her family that make Tyrion think that maybe, just maybe, they have formed a real friendship this time. Or maybe she just doesn't have anyone to talk about these things in the North and he is just delusional as always.

The first time he sees her again after the war, The North is slightly less cold and Bran sends him to put together an alliance for trading of food and protection. Sansa is all regal when she waits for him at the gates, but there is that little smile and Tyrion has a hard time not stumbling on his own feet. They are all business very fast and by the time the first night has arrived, they are still discussing with a small council. She sends then all to rest and eat, but the Queen makes no move to go from the room, so Tyrion stays put. His eyes follow her when she takes out a bottle of wine and sits down again, asking him to join her and well, maybe his yes comes to quickly but again, no one can blame him.

The sight of Sansa Stark free and content is something Tyrion is pretty sure he doesn't deserve. Or that any living man deserves, for what matters.

He had only caught glimpse of it that night of celebration after the battle against the death, life times ago. That time, he had keep his distance after what happened in the crypts, knowing it was probably something she wanted to forget all together. But now? Now he doesn't have anywhere else to look and even if he did, Tyrion would kill the man that tried to make him. Or at least try, really hard.

She starts talking about everything that happens in the North, of common friends and without notice it, the night passes between them. He hadn't feel this relaxed in so long, too haunted by dragons and their mothers, and his has the feeling that she feels the same way. It's confirmed when they are about to go to their rooms, already the next day, and she takes his hand on her own.

"I didn't have a friend to talk for a long while now. Thank you, Lord Tyrion"

He wants to kiss her so bad his stomach hurt, but he just kisses her hand and nods. There is something in her eyes that he can't quite understand, but it's gone as soon as it appeared, so he blames it to his stupid imagination and maybe the wine. Always the wine.

The visit was supposed to last a few days at most, but there is a raven from the king asking her sister to use his hand as much as she can, for council and advice, and it feels like a secret joke that literally no one else is understanding. Still, everyone knows that Bran is always right so they do as he says.

Sansa starts giving him little tasks. There are reconstructions plans to be followed, budgets to be adjusted and demands to be heard, so Tyrion spends most of his mornings following the Queen around. The people of the North are wary of him at first, still remember him beside another queen, but they end up adjusting to the view of him beside their leader, specially when she starts to smile a little bit more.

The nights, on the other part, are just for them. They eat together, sometimes in his chambers, sometimes in a little room that serves for important meetings, and most often than not have something to drink while they speak of whatever they feel like it. There are subjects they don't touch, like the night in the cribs, but there are few. These are the times where Tryion thinks that he sees something, a certain way that he used to know well, but he ends up convincing him that is a lie. Beautiful, perfect, Queen Sansa could never want someone like him, not even for a second.

Thing is, she does. And patience seems to not be one of her many talents, at least when it comes to personal matters.

* * *

This is a companion series to 'when everything is made to be broken' and some sort of sequel to 'say you will remember me', that will follow tyrion and sansa in the north

Comments are always appreciated!


	2. Chapter 2

It's just his luck that he is in the North for the anniversary of the Long Night.

There is no feast, but something like that and Tyrion finds himself sit beside the Queen, seeing his men and her people mingle and drink for those who left then too soon, sharing stories that will preserve them forever. His eyes keep moving back to her, but Sansa seems far away, somewhere he can't reach no matter how many witty comments he makes to ease the tension on her shoulders.

Her cup of wine is untouched on her hand and he wants nothing more than put it aside so he can reach for her palm, to give her some comfort for whatever sorrow she is remembering. She has many too choose from, sadly.

Everyone starts to get potentially drunker and he tries his best to not drown himself in the wine; he wouldn't be able to ignore her pain even with all the alcohol in the world.

After a while and some speeches, Sansa excuses herself and tells everyone to keep enjoying the celebrations. Tyrion is about to leave too when, for the first time in the whole night, her piercing blue eyes land on him. Whatever he is about to say gets stuck in his throat as she looks him over, considering him.

"Come, Lord Tyrion. There is a matter we shall discuss" Her voice is all business and steadiness, something he is quite used to when they are in the presence of others, but that something that underlines all of their private interactions is also there, and he is left to do nothing but follow her without comment.

For a clever man, he has no idea what is happening. He is actually considering his options so hard that he doesn't realize he is following her to a part of the castle he has never in, until she opens a door and leads him to what clearly are her rooms. It sets him mind in blank, but Sansa takes no notice of this and walks right to the small table, pouring them both something to drink. Tyrion is still speechless and unmoving, something that makes her smile.

"I have never seen a lion wear that expression" Her voice brings him back and if he wasn't a grown ass man, he would had blush. He still does, a little bit and he wants to think that is the reason her eyes soften in the edges.

"Is not proper that I'm in your rooms, your Majesty" Sansa looks at him amused for a moment, before turning her back and drinking a sip of her glass.

"You are not the first one to be here" And that is enough to send his poor heart to an ultimate deceased. Of course she would had someone else, she is the most beautiful woman in the entire world and not only that, but a queen who could have anyone she desires. If he was stupid enough to be faithful to an invalid marriage, that was clearly on him. "Theon was here the night before the battle" Again, her words stop his quick mind and Tyrion doesn't miss the sadness in her voice. It was him who she was thinking about in the feast, then.

Theon had never being his favorite person, far from it, but he was grateful for him after Sansa told him about how they got free from Ramsey. He had done what Tyrion couldn't, protecting her, and no matter how many cruel jokes passed between, that could never be erased.

Sansa doesn't look at him and continues talking, her eyes again looking at something that is not there. "We came here after we ate something, to wait for the signal. All of my siblings had somewhere else to be and we didn't want to be alone." Tyrion moves closer as she speaks, sitting in a chair beside the table and taking his wine, letting her say whatever she has to say. It doesn't matter it may break his heart in the process, it never has. "We talked until it was time and we said our goodbyes. I'm glad at least we got to have that"

"I'm glad you did too" The sentiment is sincere but it's mixed with his own feelings. He also got to say goodbye to Jamie, even when it didn't make anything easier. Tyrion is aware that is not the same, there were different kinds of love, but the loss is still great in both of their hearts. He can relate to that. And because he is stupid and jealous, he can't help but keep talking. "He would had being a good king, beside you"

There is no surprise in her eyes when she turns to look at him, but the understanding that someone who has thought about it before and agree with him. Still, she doesn't comment on it. "I already had two husbands. I don't plan to choose another one?"

"Never? And be alone for the rest of your days?" The only thought makes him sad, for her.

"I never said that"

There is a pause, and for the Hand of the King, that lasts for a million years. He looks right into her eyes, those blue ice that seem so warm when they are on him, like right there and understands something impossible. She is waiting for him to catch up with what she has already decided and it takes all the air out of his lungs that her, Sansa of House Stark, has chosen him against anyone else. Because that's what she means, he can't be wrong, but it still feels like he is walking in some kind of dream.

"Sansa…"

"You said we should had stayed married and I told you it could never work because of a queen that is already gone"

"That doesn't mean that…"

"In all those letters, in all of your time in the North, have you not seen it? Have you not notice that I want you?" Her body is completely angled at him now and there is frustration on her tone, close to the girl he met in King's Landing. In front of him there is a Queen, but still the same Sansa he admired since he met her.

And this Sansa, present Sansa, wants him. It makes him want to cry.

He thinks there may be real tears on his cheeks because the next thing he knows, she is leaning closer to him, cradling his face in her hands and cleaning something with her thumbs. How can someone think of her as emotionless, when she is able to communicate him so much with one look? He doesn't deserve this, her, after everything that he had done. After he had betrayed Daenerys, after he had killed his father and Shae; Tyrion doesn't deserve the mercy that is Sansa's affection, but gods, he is so grateful right now. He would do it all again, as selfish as it sounds, to be with her like this again. In a hundred life times, he would still choose her.

"Silly man" A quiet giggle comes out of her mouth, enough for him to smile chuckle back at her. She is beautiful when she smiles and laughs, so much that is a crime not to kiss her, and so he does. This time, he is allowed to and when he moves forward, she meets him in the middle.

It's like fireworks, but so much more.

It's home and safety, it's new and it's old, it's liberating but so terrifying at the same time.

When they part, Tyrion has to hold himself to follow her mouth or kiss her again, once he sees her expression after being kissed. By him, out of anyone.

It was going to take a while to get used to.

"I…" It's the first time he sees her doubt herself and he puts his hands over hers, to steady her. "It may be hard. I don't… Ramsey…"

"I'll be patient. We will go slowly, with everything"

Her mouth almost forms a pout, _almost_. "Not so slowly. I have wait weeks for you to realize that…"

"I have made my Queen wait for weeks?! I'm sure that is cause of treason" The joke makes the pout disappears on her face and another laugh to come out of her lips.

It's just his luck the best day of his life happens in the anniversary of the Long Night.


End file.
